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Transylvania Open's tournament director Patrick Ciorcila called out the last-minute withdrawals of the biggest names announced for the WTA250 tournament he manages. “I am honored that it’s the third edition of Transylvania Open,” Patrick Ciorcilă began as quoted in an official press release.
“Few people know that this edition has been a real struggle – we were very close to not having this license. We have had many withdrawals, and I don’t want to ignore that, especially since there have been many last-minute withdrawals.
But we, as organizers, were also upset, and we wanted to have the best possible lineup. We have always been transparent and communicated exactly which players we knew would come; and we’ve talked a lot with them, from Caroline Garcia to Donna Vekic.
It’s the end of the year, and it’s understandable on one hand that many have withdrawn, but I believe that certain things should change for organizers so that we don’t suffer in terms of our image after communicating with many top players (who then can’t participate)," said Ciorcila.
Donna Vekic invoked a left wrist injury as the reason behind her withdrawal.
Caroline Garcia, on the other hand, didn't specify the type of injury she is facing.
People bought tickets to see top players
Ciorcila also explained how last-minute withdrawals upset tennis fans.
"Many people probably bought tickets because we communicated with top players. We’re sorry, but we, in the same measure, want to have the best possible lineup, and we have the best intentions," said Ciorcila. "On a positive note: we have a strong tournament, many Romanian players on the roster, and Sorana was very eager to come to Cluj.
Gabriela Ruse has a very tough draw again, just like two years ago when she played Simona Halep in the first round. Now she’s playing on the line of the second seed. We also have other Romanians like Jaqueline Christian, Patricia Țig, Miriam Bulgaru, and Ana Bogdan, who is one of us from Cluj.
It promises to be a very good and highly competitive tournament. For the semifinals and finals, we are 95% sold out. We hope to have full stands, and we hope for semifinals with four Romanians and a final with two Romanians, which would be sensational!”.
